#OperationPlayMore

Like all good things, it started with a Twitter conversation.

Friday night I was chatting with Stephanie, aka @SarcasminAction of Musings of a Sarcastic Mind. I saw her tweets and immediately contacted her. We were lamenting on the fact that we no longer play. We’re sour and cranky and slightly jaded, and we’re tired of it!

Yeah. That’s right. You heard me. Play. Like a kid.

Do you remember how much fun it was to play as a child? Jumping rope? Hula Hoops? Splashing in Puddles? Catching fireflies? Why did we ever give this up? Why in the world would we give up telling scary stories and eating smores? Or coloring? Or doing cartwheels in the grass behind our house? Or climbing trees?

Stephanie and I both decided that we needed to play more. She wrote it up on her blog and invited people to link up. You’ll also notice the title is a Twitter hashtag.

I tested the water on Saturday. The kids were bored and so, spur-of-the-moment, we swung by the park. After walking around the lake trail for a bit, and then shrieking when we encountered a copperhead snake, we ended up taking over the swings. And I swung for twenty minutes. It felt great. We had races to see how fast we could go and how high we could go and while the other mothers in the park stared at me (there was a whole gaggle of baby-wearing mommas at the park that day) I jumped off the swing—just like my mother instructed me to never do so many years ago.

On Sunday, Ant and I went to the pool and played for three hours. We dove for rings and went down the water slide. We ate concession stand nachos and slurped on ice pops. Both of us were hot, sticky, and exhausted when we came home, but it was good. Fantastic, even.

On Monday evening, we watched the thunderstorms roll in while messing around in the backyard. We identified the different types of clouds, and I would almost swear you could see the Jetstream or cold front sweeping the clouds diagonally across the sky in a single streak the width of my hand (when compared to the sky, that is). We were hoping it would begin to rain before bedtime, but it didn’t. I ended up with seven mosquito bites, but oh well!

Last night we had all four of us in the house playing Draw Something with each other. In the same room. This lasted for almost two hours—way past bedtime for Ant, and was hilarious. Ant was the most creative. J was the least (he just kept drawing fireballs for everything). The best picture of the night still leaves me stumped. K sent me this to guess (it was a three pointer) and finally had to tell me what it was, because there’s no way I would decipher this to mean ‘Google’.

Recreation. Do any of you get it? I don't!

Tonight? Well, I’m not certain yet what we’re going to do tonight. I do have to run by the store after work this evening, and I’m hoping that maybe, just maybe, they have jump ropes. Do you know much I’ve missed jump ropes? And think of the cardio. Playing more has health benefits!

Actually, it truly does. It also has a lot of mental benefits. Playing gets you up and moving, so there’s calorie loss. It helps you de-stress. It improves the mood of those suffering from depression. It can help you solve problems (by tapping into your imagination). Playing can even decrease or delay mental decline as we age.

And so, each day, I am trying to play more. I am going to start sharing how I play and—GASP—maybe even taking pictures. Of myself. I know! I hope you decide to come along. Join our #operationplaymore. Let’s make it a trend. Hell, if planking or photo bombing can become a thing, playing can too!

So, if you don’t get ahold of me right away, know this: I am likely making glow in the dark bubbles. Or we’ve gone fishing. Or we’re having a picnic. Because this is how we’re going to roll this summer!